DATE=12/26/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KANDAHAR HIJACK (L-ONLY) (CQ)
NUMBER=2-257522
BYLINE=AYAZ GUL
DATELINE=KANDAHAR
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Talks in Afghanistan between a senior U-N
official and hijackers of an Indian airliner ended for
the night Sunday without any resolution. The five
hijackers are still holding more than 160 people
hostage aboard the jet in Kandahar. They say no
passengers will leave the plane alive until their
demands are met, for the release of Kahmiri
separatists held in India. // OPT // Russia is
asking the U-N Security Council to take up the
hijacking. // END OPT // We have this report from
Ayaz Gul in Kandahar, headquarters of the Taleban,
which controls most of Afghanistan.
TEXT: U-N and Taleban officials are negotiating with
the hijackers for the release of more than 156-
passengers on the Indian plane.
Negotiations are being conducted by radio. There has
been no visual contact between the two sides.
After talking with the hijackers, the U-N coordinator
for Afghanistan, Erick de Mul, said there is no hope
for an early solution to the hostage crisis, which
began Friday. Mr. De Mul says hopes were raised early
Sunday when hijackers released a diabetic Indian man
as a good-will gesture. But the U-N official says no
break-through has been achieved since then.
The passenger was the first to be released since
Friday, when 27 hostages were allowed to leave the
plane in the United Arab Emirates. One passenger has
been killed.
Mr. De Mul says he will continue negotiations with the
hijackers Monday.
Afghan Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar asked the
hijackers to release the wife of the slain passenger,
who was stabbed to death in Dubai. But the hijackers
denied the appeal, saying they will not release any
passengers alive until their demands are met.
Taleban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed has criticized
the Indian government for not showing enough interest,
despite the fact most of the hostages are Indian
nationals. Meanwhile, diplomats from Spain, France,
Italy, and Belgium, whose citizens are among the
hostages, have arrived in Kandahar to update their
countries on the situation.
The five armed hijackers have threatened to blow up
the plane if their demands [for the release of
prisoners held by India] are not met.
India has been fighting a Muslim insurgency in
Kashmir. Separatist groups there are demanding either
outright independence for the mostly Muslim region or
union with Pakistan.
/// REST OPT ///
The Indian Airlines plane was hijacked Friday, during
a scheduled flight from Nepal to New Delhi. It
stopped in India, Pakistan and the United Arab
Emirates before landing in Afghanistan.
Officials in Kandahar say the jet has a damaged fuel
tank, and can no longer be re-fueled safely. They
added that experts from Kabul were traveling to
Kandahar to fix the problem.
Members of the Taleban are providing food, water and
medicine for the hostages. (Signed)
NEB/AG/RAE/WTW
26-Dec-1999 17:44 PM EDT (26-Dec-1999 2244 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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